There's a hidden story in the list of top graduate employers. It's about a shift in the qualities employers are looking for in graduates. Big-name businesses dominate the top 10. This year PwC is number one, last year it was number two. Last year Deloitte was number one, this year it's number three. And all the familiar names are in the top 10: EY, Aldi, Accenture, KPMG.

But when you dig into the stories graduates tell about how they got their placements and the qualities businesses say they want in a graduate, the real story emerges.

It's summarised in one word, STEAM. For a long time leading employers of graduates have looked for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics degrees as the feed stock for new employees. Now an extra qualification is in demand, Arts – turning STEM into STEAM.

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It seems odd at first. Why would a leading accounting company give a job to someone who's honours thesis was on creativity and drawing in children with autism? But that's the story of Alexander Peponis, who was hired by KPMG last year and is now training in the audit division.

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It's not a complete summersault for employers. The big accountants, banks, insurance firms and lawyers still want people with skills in maths, science and law. But as the workplace is disrupted by technology, greater efficiencies and new types of business, the best employees are the ones who can adapt to the changing needs of clients and to whole new classes of clients that want consultants and advisers.

Wider range of skills

It's a trend the universities have recognised, where the teaching focus is now less on knowledge and more on process. As the deputy vice-chancellor of UTS, Shirley Alexander, famously told TheAustralian Financial Review Higher Education Summit last year, "content is no longer king when it comes to educating the new workforce".

Universities Australia's Acting Chief Executive Catriona Jackson said that while endowing students with specific, high-level skills was an important part of university education, offering students a well-rounded higher education was also fundamental.

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"One of the most valuable parts of a university education is the skill of how to think critically and creatively."

KPMG, which hired Peponis, says it's all about sourcing a wider range of skills. Head of talent acquisition at KPMG Phil Rutherford says there is value in the wider thinking that candidates with arts qualifications articulate. That doesn't mean he's hiring a whole lot of historians. "Is it the arts itself? No. But we hire people with arts in their degrees, yes."

Rutherford says the more rounded background is also usually associated with people who have strong career motivations, which is a quality KPMG is after.

The HR lead at Accenture ANZ, Randy Wandermacher, agrees. "Scientists and engineers tend to reduce challenges to ones and zeros. What we see is graduates from the arts and humanities follow the world differently". Wandermacher himself is a good example – his university specialisation was French language and psychology.

"In the digital and robotics age we still require STEM graduates. But what we also want in graduates is curiosity, resilience, judgment and adaptivity," he says.

Challenging careers

The 2018 Top 100 Employers list shows graduates are preferencing interesting work over established names. While prominent names dominate the top of list – which ranks the most popular firms for graduates, less well known businesses are in rising demand if they offer challenging careers. Businesses in a high expansion phase and those in infrastructure are getting the biggest increase in attention.

NBN, which combines rapid expansion and nation-building, is now 16 in the ranking. That's up from 67 a year ago. The NSW government, which will spend $72.7 billion on infrastructure between now and 2021, is in big demand with graduates, rising from a ranking of 40 in 2017 to 12 in the 2018 survey. Engineering firm AECOM has gone up from 14 to 8 – putting it in a league with consultants such as Accenture and banks like Westpac.

Why would a leading accounting company give a job to someone who's honours thesis was on creativity and drawing in children with autism? But that's the story of Alexander Peponis, who was hired by KPMG last year and is now training in the audit division.
Peter Braig

Graduates, drawing on the wider range of university teaching involving problem solving and lateral thinking, are no longer content to restrict themselves to big name traineeships. Coming up the rank of firms that are popular with graduates is Mars – a food company but increasingly a logistics business. Mars slots in at 13, a huge jump from its 64 ranking a year ago.

Mars has five guiding principles for employees, one of which is "freedom", which might appeal to the new cohort of graduates.

DentsuAegis Network, a communications business, didn't even hit the top 100 last year, this year it debuts at 22.

GradConnection director Dan Headford describes the rise of non-traditional names in the top 100 employers as generational change. As he points out, Reece, a plumbing supplier, is now in the top 30, ahead of established names such as Proctor and Gamble, BHP and Unilever. The world is changing.

NBN, which combines rapid expansion and nation-building, is now 16 in the ranking. That's up from 67 a year ago.
Glenn Hunt

Wide interests broaden a path to consultancy

From microbiology, to psychology, through creative practice to accountancy — it's a meandering path but one that has brought Alexander Peponis to a job that combines the best of each world.

The University of Sydney graduate started his double degree in Science and Arts with a focus on biological sciences, before finding a love for psychology and the combination of scientific and creative thinking it required.

It took him to Deakin University, where he did his honours thesis on creativity in autistic children.

"I designed a test looking at early detection in the way that children draw," he says.

"It challenged the idea that in autism there's a lack of creativity. Our definition of creativity can be flawed."

But it was a stint with an organisational consultancy designing psychometric tests that opened his eyes to the option of applying his varied skills in a different way — provided he didn't have to return to study full time.

"I'd gone so far down the science path that it felt too risky to change and begin a Bachelor of Accounting or something like that," Peponis says.

Head of talent acquisition at KPMG, Phil Rutherford✓, says there is value in the wider thinking that candidates with arts qualifications articulate.
Ryan Stuart

"That's what drew me to KPMG because I thought it would be a good place for career development and certification."

Now working within the professional services firm's auditing team, Peponis is mixing work with foundation courses in chartered accounting and should sit his CA in 2018.

He believes his diverse studies have helped him understand how to apply skills quickly, whether it is using data analysis skills gleaned doing research or the writing skills honed by psychology.

"It is not so much the content matter you learn but the style of learning that helps," he says.

"The fact KPMG was prepared to offer formal and informal education was massive for me and I plan not only to do my chartered accountancy but if there are opportunities in other areas I'll pursue those as well.

"I could begin a career while having my education running alongside the whole time."

As the deputy vice-chancellor of UTS, Shirley Alexander✓, famously told The Australian Financial Review Higher Education Summit last year, "content is no longer king when it comes to educating the new workforce".
Peter Braig